Last season's Lake Geneva ice castles melted after three days. Here's how this year will be different

For the past five years, Ice Castles has been a Lake Geneva winter tradition. The castles are built out of hundreds of thousands of icicles that create walls, towers, tunnels and even slides for people to explore. At night the castles are illuminated with LED lights.

This year, the experience will be a bit different. Winter Realms, created by the same artists that build Ice Castles, will still have ice caverns, thrones, slides and tunnels, but the creations will be more "weather-resilient," according to a news release. That's good news, considering last winter's Ice Castles event in Lake Geneva lasted only three days before unseasonably warm weather melted the castles beyond repair.

Visitors to Winter Realms also can look forward to a tubing hill, an ice volcano, horse-drawn sleigh rides and festive food and drink.

Winter Realms is expected to open in late December at Geneva National Resort & Club, with tickets going on sale on the Winter Realms website on Dec. 6.

The Utah-based company that creates Ice Castles and Winter Realms will have one other Winter Realms location in Lake George, New York, and Ice Castles locations in Utah, Colorado, Minnesota and New Hampshire.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Winter Realms will replace Ice Castles in Lake Geneva this winter